cliff. obama and republican leaders remain at a crossroads on reaching a budget deal before the combination of spending cuts and tax hikes kicks in with the new year. on wednesday, treasury secretary timothy geithner told congress the u.s. will reach its federal borrowing limit on new year's eve, threatening the same default that was narrowly avoided last year. in a letter to lawmakers, geithner vowed to take extraordinary measures to avoid a new default but said any remedies would only be short- term. the u.s. has acknowledged for the first time a carried out a september drone strike that killed 11 people in yemen. the victims were packed into ain truck on a desert road in a town of radda when they're struck by a missile. the washington post reports the yemeni government tried to hide u.s. responsibility for the attack by taking credit for carrying it out. the yemeni government also initially claimed only militants were killed in the strike, or forced to withdraw that claim after mourners t